Dholavira Signboard 06/03/2023 – Flag Referendum

Petition to Change Flag Results in Referendum
After an unofficial national petition to change Mel-akkam's millennia-old flag garnered 1.3 million signatures, Leader of the Government Nirtyam Am'mayi announced last month that a government commission would accept suggestions for new flag designs. Today, the commission released a list of five final designs fitting a certain set of criteria (including "no colours other than white, black, and navy blue", "symbols of Mel-akkan history or culture", "rectangular", etc) with the objective of presenting the designs to voters during next month's general election. Among the proposed designs are a flag entitled "Santi", depicting an ancient Mel-akkan symbol believed to signify peace, one entitled "New Standard", incorporating the present flag into an Austrian-style bicolour, and a third called "Radiant Min", illustrating the culturally-significant homophone for "star" and "fish". Voters will rank the proposed flags from 1 to 6; in addition to the newly-proposed flags, voters may also opt to keep the current flag (#6).

Taliban Raids Shake Shortugai
The President of Shortugai, Abdullah Hassan, declared a state of emergency after a hit-and-run attack by Taliban militants left 2 residents of a rural Shortugai village dead, and several others injured. The Taliban, an extremist group controlling most of Afghanistan, has long claimed the Mel-akkan exclave as its own territory, but has largely abstained from attacking Shortugai in the past. Foreign Affairs Rapporteur Ekabhi Prayam confirmed that he had reached out to his Indian and Kazakh counterparts, seeking security assistance.

Last Poll Shows Clear Skies for Progressives
The Dholavira Signboard’s final electoral poll, conducted just a week before the Vernal Equinox election, shows clear skies for the Progressives, apparently poised to modestly increase their vote share and seat count. “The Progressive Party is holding steady at around 45%, which would translate to around 20 [out of 40] seats,” reported Signboard pollster Sankhya Pagulagot’tu. “That means there’s a 30-40% chance the Progressives could win an outright majority.” While an absolute majority, unheard of since the 2017 Autumnal election, is apparently on the cards, analysts have doubted that the Progressives would pursue one-party rule, instead preferring to continue their coalition with the centre-right Liberal Democratic Party, with whom they could hold a “quadfecta” — a majority in every commission.